Frag'n Friday!

So, it's actually Saturday night fragments, but hopefully Mrs. 4444's won't mind. It's an easy one because it's a post of pictures I have taken thinking I would get them into posts, but haven't.

The first set is from the Wellfleet Oyster Festival. We had fried dough....


This is one of the crafty things people do with the oyster shells after they eat the oyster....they turn them into beautiful decorations.

There were a variety of men wearing strange hats. Why? I guess to try to sell their wares.




B and her friend posed in the middle of 2 oyster shells


Then one night, B and I went down to the shore and took pictures of the beautiful sunset. Just looking at these pictures makes me feel blessed to live here.



B, modeling for me.


My mom and a few of my friends and I took a class on how to make a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Not too bad, eh?


This is my brother in law's boat coming in with a full catch! Look at all the seagulls behind him!!


One day B and I were going somewhere and got stuck in a line of traffic behind a man moving his boat to dry dock for the winter. There is a man in a blue hat on the top of the boat manuevering the tree limbs away from the boat. He must have lost a bet to get that job.



So those are my fragmented pictures for the week. I will work on getting this up on the right day next week!

Icky Germs!!

Dear people who are shopping in the same stores as me,

I would really appreciate you NOT shopping if you are sick or a just "getting over" something. It is only November. There is plenty of time to get your holiday shopping done. I know it is exciting to see the Christmas ornamentation and hear those familiar carols, but you would SERIOUSLY be better off at home in bed. There is this wonderful invention now called the internet where you can get just about anything you need by sitting in front of your computer. You could even blast some Christmas music in the background while you shop. You can cough and sneeze all over your own keyboard (not me).

I understand if you are at the grocery store stocking up on chicken noodle soup and ginger ale, or at the pharmacy getting some much deserved drugs. There is no need for you to be in the Christmas Tree Shops or TJMaxx. I can only put so much antibacterial liquid on my hands before they will dry up into little stubs. And I am pretty sure I am not suppose to put that all over my face, but truly you leave me no option when you are hacking away in the same aisle as me.

Please don't make me resort to wearing a mask.

Although, I am crafty and could probably adorn one with bedazzles or fleece or pompoms or something. Hmmm, maybe I have a new business opportunity here. Well, I will get started on it right after I take a disinfecting shower!

Sincerely,

Germ-a-phobe Sue

Happy Holidays.....

I had to look back in my blog to see if I had written about the subject of Christmas in my family before, and oddly I haven't. Weird, I know. Yes, it is the beginning of November and we have been talking Christmas up in my house for months. Just for the record, we are not as bad as a friend of mine who's mother in law talks up Thanksgiving 13 months ahead of schedule!

Yes, I am one of those shoppers who often times starts Christmas shopping for the next year at the day after Christmas sales. Yes, I love Black Friday and hunt for the best bargains in the Thanksgiving day flyers instead of taking the typical turkey day nap. I don't mind Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I just love the time of the year that is Christmas.

However, my family is turning it into a rule run episode. Of course, my entire family will read this and there will be hell to pay, but I am throwing it out to you, my blog family to aid and assist. With my Mom's side of the family, we have a name draw. We are allowed to spend (I think this year it was dropped to $30) so much on the person's name we have. Unfortunately, for the past few years, we have not all gotten together around the holidays, so the opening has been done over the phone.

Then we have the stocking draw in my immediate family. It is fun, we each have one person that we spend $10 on and there is usually a theme involved. Sometimes you have to shop for a certain color, other times something that rhymes with their name, this year something that begins with their name. We have fun, we laugh and it is always amusing.

Then we have the name draw with the immediate family for one gift up to $100. This is where the major trouble comes into play. Some of us are crafty, some of us want to buy for everyone and some of us feel that $100 on one person is too much pressure. The emails between family members having been flying like wildfire for the past month! That's right month and I still don't think that we have a good answer. My brother's girlfriend even jumped into the melee today (God Bless Her). Because of her 2 cents, she bought herself the privilege of saying grace at dinner.

Help stop the insanity! Tell us what you do for Christmas or Hanukkah (Melisa). Our family needs help and is losing the real value of Christmas which is the eating, I mean the togetherness of family and friends!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Frag'n Friday!

Welcome to a special addition of Friday Fragments. Why is it so special you ask? Well it is Melisa With One S's birthday today!!! It is also K's half birthday! Go spread the birthday love around and stop by Mrs. 4444's to tell her I puffy heart her, too.

*We were driving to the dentist yesterday and passed a car from C-lab. C-lab is a place that draws blood, takes pee etc... K could not believe that their was actual blood in the car with some older man driving it.
"Ted Kennedy had more security around him and he was dead! This guy is driving people's BLOOD with no security or armored car!!!!"
She doesn't come out with one liners too often, but when she does, they are good!

*She also told me that some kid got busted in school for having soda in his locker. Evidently he had like 7 sodas in his locker and was handing them out to his friends. The guidance counselor confiscated them. The science teacher explained to him that sodas were unhealthy. And he came back with, "Well 2 of them were healthy, they were grape!"

*My father in law was "Quahoggin' Mama" for Halloween. I have no words other than what a good sport.
*I know you all love Gretel and she's always into something.... Here's the latest. Once again I left her in the backyard (you would think I would have learned my lesson). She is attached to a 40ft wirey thing and has the run of the backyard. When I looked out the window to find her, I couldn't see her anywhere.

*
Yup, she had dug herself a nice little tunnel under the deck. I literally had to pull her out.

*She is a very patient dog for the most part.....

*I am doing a little better getting to people's blogs sooner than later. I am also enjoying checking out some new blogs, courtesy of all the bloggers doing Georgie and Amy's Secret Santa (see button above). I do love Christmas and a little birdie told me today it is in 50 days! Ack, get me to the mall!!!!!

*Oh, if you need any seaside holiday ideas, check out my friend Becky's etsy shop or her blog. She is one of the most talented people I know (and really nice too!).

Happy Weekend!!!!

Scallop Season

Scallop season opened on November 1, but for some ancient bylaw, the guys were not allowed to go on Sunday, so it officially started Monday. This once was a huge money maker around these parts, but through shifts in tides, sands, etc, it has been pretty weak for about 20 years. For whatever reason, this is the year it has turned around. So I introduce you to the scallop shanty where one opens scallops.

This is what scallops look like.

This is what they look like when the shell is opened. Evidently they have muscle and guts around the scallop that one has to peel off.

Matt is showing the girls and his nephew the fine art of opening the scallops in a very cramped scallop shanty.

K shows me the cool way to open them.

B found a crabby in one of hers.

Remember Where's Waldo? I made Where's Gretel?

And here it is, the fruits of their labor.

For this little bag here, a fisherman would get about $20 to sell it to a fish market. You, as the consumer, would have to pay about $50 for this amount. Unfair? Yeah, I think so. Place your wholesale orders now!

Halloween Horse Show

Halloween weekend kicked off Friday afternoon with a special Halloween horse show! The girls dressed up themselves and their horses. K was an Arabian princess riding her camel, Simba. B is not so into riding so she was ribbon girl! Everyone won first place! They paraded around the neighborhood and then came back for the egg and spoon race. Remember as a kid when you had to run with an egg on a spoon? Well try doing that on horseback! K's egg broke all over her saddle!








It's always good manors for your camel to kiss your goat.




OK, now I have Miley Cyrus' song "Hoedown Throwdown" going through my head....

Frag'n Friday!

I'm a winner! I'm a winner! My weekend is starting out great because I was bestowed the honor of co-Fragment Friday Fun/Fish/Fantastic/ what does the other F stand for? Anyway, Mrs 4444's (the creator of Friday Fragments) thought my frag with Gretel and the grave she dug for me was worthy of an award!!! I'd like to thank the 4444's family, my family, Gretel for being a smart ass of a dog, my stuffed bear.... Go check out Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments to get a load off your mind before the start of the weekend!

*Halloween is tomorrow. I will admit I am not a big fan of Halloween. Candy yes. Dressing up no. Case in point the perfect meltdown K had last night because our barn is having a Halloween Horse Show today and she is not ready. And, I know I am so mean, I will not take her out of school early today to shop for accessories for her camel/horse.

*Carving pumpkins is fun and cooking the seeds is fun, too. And picking the seeds out of my teeth for a week is REALLY fun. B and I carved the other day while K raked in the bucks at the barn guiding 3 trailrides.

BEFORE

DURING (electric knife tool, very fun!)

MINE AFTER (I took this picture because it looked like it had a boogy hanging from it's nose. I am so mature.)

LIGHTS!

*When I was outside taking the lit pumpkins (yeah, they had had a few too many), I turned around to grab a quick pic of the sunset. We have had some amazing sky color here lately!
*When I was in Maine last weekend for the memorial service, we drove around Ogunquit a little. They were having some sort of a creative pumpkin contest. My dad was driving (yeah, and I was in the back seat) and my mom and I were frustrating him by telling him to pull over every 5 seconds. So, I got 2 pictures before he locked the doors and hit the gas.


Some people are very clever.

*You know when you go to the Drs for a physical you shower, shave and try to smell good? Well I took my car to get inspected yesterday (2 days BEFORE it expired, that's impressive!). First, I cleaned it out, then I wiped 3 inches of dust off the dash, then I even windexed the inside of the windows and lastly I vacumed out a summers worth of sand from the trunk! She was looking sweet! I didn't have to wash the outside, the torrential rainfall took care of that the other day. She passed her test with flying colors and I got a wink from the man who didn't speak much english. I think that might be the same type of appreciative wink your Dr. gives you when you clean up for him/her. Either way, my car and I felt good leaving with a new sticker!

*I am sure I will have a barn party wrap up this weekend and Halloween in general wrap up. Then we can move on looking forward to the next feeding frenzy; Thanksgiving!

HAPPY WEEKEND!